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Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the next great saga that Disney + will adapt

It is evident that the phenomenon created by Rick Riordan is a direct heir to the success of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books but not for that we can take away all the merit it has. And it is that he had the enormous success of, based on a magical universe that takes place in the current world, in the present, inserting elements as well known as those of Greek mythology, rich in gods, demigods and heroes who face the most powerful enemies Olympus has ever seen and now, by the way, is based on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building.

It is thanks to that connection that, quickly, the books of the series The gods of Olympus they became a success after its first release in 2005. So much so that the five books have reached and exceeded 45 million copies sold in more than 32 countries that have seen how this descendant of the most mythical deities faces real threats that want to end the world whole.

Who is Percy Jackson?

Percy Jackson is neither more nor less than the son of Poseidon, God of the sea and earthquakes, who one day finds out that he is a demi-god and that everything they told him in Greek mythology school is so true that he himself descends from those stories. so soon will come into contact with other characters, such as Annabeth Chasedaughter of Athena, or Grover, a good-looking satyr who will have to face the king of the titans and God of Time (Cronos) to prevent him from destroying Olympus.

Percy Jackson The Son of Neptune.

Throughout all the books Percy Jackson is growing up like a normal boy would from one year to another. One of the keys to the novels is that we are following the evolution of the character from his initial 12 years of The Lightning Thief until 17 (more or less) of the last installment, The Last Hero of Olympusat which point the pentalogy of The gods of Olympus.

Officially born on August 18, 1993 on Long Island, New York, his mother Sally named him after Perseus, one of the few ancient myths that did not end badly. Percy always lived with the strange feeling of hiding from everything and everyone, so he will soon discover that the reason is that Poseidon abandoned him as a child to protect and hide him from the wrath of Zeus. Even so, the god of the oceans continued to visit him furtively, seeing how he was growing and with the aim of explaining to him one day what his role would be within the global scenario where Olympus is in danger because of a certain Cronos.

How was the idea born?

The origin of the character arose from some short stories that Rick Riordan invented to tell them to his son before going to sleep, and who had been diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and dyslexia, two qualities that Percy Jackson himself will inherit in the books and that will be, in some way, the ones that prevent you from integrating into many of the schools you will visit.

Rick Riordan / Percy Jackson.

In addition, placing the adventures of this new hero within the typical elements of Greek mythology was not random, but an express request of the writer’s own sonwho had met them at school and aroused enormous interest in him.

The books

Although books linked to the Percy Jackson universe have not stopped being published since 2005, in reality only the first five published between 2005 and 2009 belong to the series of The gods of Olympus. The following collections of The Heroes of Olympus, The Trials of Apollo either Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgardthey already have other different protagonists who expand that imaginary, in some cases even mentioning Percy Jackson himself in passing as a relevant figure of that universe.

But we are going to focus on the five great books of the saga, and here you have them:

Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief (2005)

Percy Jackson The Lightning Thief.

The initiatory history of the hero begins in New York, where Percy Jackson studies in a boarding school for children with problems and dyslexia. He will soon discover that he is a descendant of the gods when he visits Camp Half-Blood and is told the story that Zeus, god of the heavens, Hades, god of the underworld, and Poseidon, god of the oceans, sealed the promise never to have mortal children. . By skipping it, Percy’s father learns that he was persecuted by Zeus, which puts everyone who knows him in danger.

Percy Jackson Sea of ​​Monsters (2006)

Percy Jackson The Sea of ​​Monsters.

The magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood are being torn down by a horde of monsters inspired by Greek mythology, causing would mean the total destruction of the last sanctuary in which the sons of the gods hide. To save him, Percy will have to find the legendary magical Golden Fleece.

Percy Jackson The Titan’s Curse (2007)

Percy Jackson The Titan's Curse.

Percy Jackson receives a call from his friend Grover in which he urges him to prepare for a battle that is about to take place. When they go to him they discover that the satyr has found two new very powerful mestizos of unknown ancestry. Together with Annabeth, Thalia and her Riptide sword, Percy will have to face Cronos, that he has set a trap for them that could end their lives.

Percy Jackson The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)

Percy Jackson The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Percy has now just arrived at the institute where his life will begin to take a radical change. Those who seem to be his friends are discovered to be not so and soon we will see that the hand of Cronos is rocking the dark events that are going to come. Now he threatens to destroy Camp Half-Blood where all the young demigods take refuge. Our protagonist will have to undertake a tortuous path through the labyrinth, an underground world full of fearsome creatures that anxiously await his new prey.

Percy Jackson The Last Olympian (2009)

Percy Jackson The Last Olympian.

Chronos has become more and more powerful and a terrible battle is coming between the half-breeds and the titans where it seems that Percy and all his friends face a fatal fate. But when the hordes of evil threaten to reach New York and that 600th floor of the Empire State Building where the Olympus of the gods is located, events change and a small opportunity to avoid catastrophe opens up.

Supplementary Books

Along with these five books, Rick Riordan rounded them out with three posts which we could consider as expansions of the series of The gods of Olympus. Is about The Demigod Filepublished in 2008, Demigods and Monsters which hit bookstores in 2009 and The Essential Guide in 2010.

Map of Camp Half-Blood.

In the case of the first two, they are brief narratives, interviews and images, as well as essays by several current (young) authors, as well as a directory that expands the information on some places, characters and events of Greek mythology. The latter is more of a compendium of related productss with Percy Jackson, such as trade cards, color diagrams and maps.

Movies and series

Warner’s runaway success with Harry Potter prompted other production companies to consider how they could get their own teen wizarding phenomenon. And 20th Century Fox had it clear, acquiring the rights to release in 2010 the first of the books of Percy Jackson but, unfortunately, the creative reins were not in charge of the writer himself (as in the case of JK Rowling) and it was the studio that thought that using only the name and changing practically everything that happened in the books, they were assured of success.

Although both films Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson and the Sea of ​​Monsters (2013) grossed just over $200 million each, quickly becoming part of the list of free (and monstrous) adaptations that didn’t do justice to the quality of the books. The author himself, who in the agreements with Fox relinquished creative control, would complain bitterly about the failures committed by the studio: The first thing was to move away from the action of the books but, above all, to change the age of the protagonist who instead of 12 years old was 17 in the first of the films. So all the evolution of Percy Jackson disappeared and with it any possibility of recovering the literary essence of his adventures.

Fortunately, it seems those two cinematographic attacks against Percy Jackson will have redemption soon, since Disney+ prepares an exclusive series in which he will tell the story respecting the books published from 2005 and that belong to the series of The gods of Olympus. So much so that the protagonist will start the adventure with the same 12 years as the character in the books, which already indicates that the production is moving in the right direction. At the moment, there is no scheduled release date but Rick Riordan will be in charge of the script for the pilot chapter.

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